Michelle Obama said after her husband was elected President of the United States, that this was the first time she was really proud of her country. Since that first slap at our nation, she has consistently been an embarrassment in the role of First Lady. Her lack of class, poise, her wardrobe, her extravagant vacations on the tax payers dime during difficult economic times, and her inability to connect with the American people, has been almost as discouraging as her husband’s failing policies that have taken this country to the brink of disaster.

This is why, when Ann Romney took the stage tonight at the Republican National Convention, I simply breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, a woman of class, intelligence, integrity and all the characteristics we look for in our First Lady. Her speech about her husband was believable and engaging. I hope the American people were listening, especially women. Here is Ann’s speech.

ANN ROMNEY: I want to talk to you tonight not about politics and not about party.

And while there are many important issues we’ll hear discussed in this convention and throughout this campaign, tonight I want to talk to you from my heart about our hearts.

I want to talk not about what divides us, but what holds us together as an American family. I want to talk to you tonight about that one great thing that unites us, that one thing that brings us our greatest joy when times are good, and the deepest solace in our dark hours.

Tonight I want to talk to you about love.

I want to talk to you about the deep and abiding love I have for a man I met at a dance many years ago. And the profound love I have, and I know we share, for this country.

I want to talk to you about that love so deep only a mother can fathom it — the love we have for our children and our children’s children.

And I want us to think tonight about the love we all share for those Americans, our brothers and sisters, who are going through difficult times, whose days are never easy, nights are always long, and whose work never seems done.

They are here among us tonight in this hall; they are here in neighborhoods across Tampa and all across America. The parents who lie awake at night side by side, wondering how they’ll be able to pay the mortgage or make the rent; the single dad who’s working extra hours tonight, so that his kids can buy some new clothes to go back to school, can take a school trip or play a sport, so his kids can feel… like the other kids.

And the working moms who love their jobs but would like to work just a little less to spend more time with the kids, but that’s just out of the question with this economy. Or that couple who would like to have another child, but wonder how will they afford it.

I’ve been all across this country for the past year and a half and heard these stories of how hard it is to get ahead now. I’ve heard your voices: “I’m running in place,” “we just can’t get ahead.”

Sometimes I think that late at night, if we were all silent for just a few moments and listened carefully, we could hear a great collective sigh from the moms and dads across America who made it through another day, and know that they’ll make it through another one tomorrow. But in that end of the day moment, they just aren’t sure how.

And if you listen carefully, you’ll hear the women sighing a little bit more than the men. It’s how it is, isn’t it?

It’s the moms who always have to work a little harder, to make everything right.

It’s the moms of this nation — single, married, widowed — who really hold this country together. We’re the mothers, we’re the wives, we’re the grandmothers, we’re the big sisters, we’re the little sisters, we’re the daughters.

You know it’s true, don’t you?

You’re the ones who always have to do a little more.

You know what it’s like to work a little harder during the day to earn the respect you deserve at work and then come home to help with that book report which just has to be done.

You know what those late night phone calls with an elderly parent are like and the long weekend drives just to see how they’re doing.

You know the fastest route to the local emergency room and which doctors actually answer the phone when you call at night.

You know what it’s like to sit in that graduation ceremony and wonder how it was that so many long days turned into years that went by so quickly.

You are the best of America.

You are the hope of America.

There would not be an America without you.

Tonight, we salute you and sing your praises.

I’m not sure if men really understand this, but I don’t think there’s a woman in America who really expects her life to be easy. In our own ways, we all know better!

And that’s fine. We don’t want easy. But these last few years have been harder than they needed to be. It’s all the little things — that price at the pump you just can’t believe, the grocery bills that just get bigger; all those things that used to be free, like school sports, are now one more bill to pay. It’s all the little things that pile up to become big things. And the big things — the good jobs, the chance at college, that home you want to buy, just get harder. Everything has become harder.

We’re too smart to know there aren’t easy answers. But we’re not dumb enough to accept that there aren’t better answers.

And that is where this boy I met at a high school dance comes in.
His name is Mitt Romney and you really should get to know him.

I could tell you why I fell in love with him — he was tall, laughed a lot, was nervous — girls like that, it shows the guy’s a little intimidated — and he was nice to my parents but he was really glad when my parents weren’t around.

That’s a good thing. And he made me laugh.

I am the granddaughter of a Welsh coal miner who was determined that his kids get out of the mines. My dad got his first job when he was six years old, in a little village in Wales called Nantyffyllon, cleaning bottles at the Colliers Arms.

When he was 15, dad came to America. In our country, he saw hope and an opportunity to escape from poverty. He moved to a small town in the great state of Michigan. There, he started a business — one he built himself, by the way.

He raised a family. And he became mayor of our town.

My dad would often remind my brothers and me how fortunate we were to grow up in a place like America. He wanted us to have every opportunity that came with life in this country — and so he pushed us to be our best and give our all.

Inside the houses that lined the streets of our town, there were a lot of good fathers teaching their sons and daughters those same values. I didn’t know it at the time, but one of those dads was my future father-in-law, George Romney.

Mitt’s dad never graduated from college. Instead, he became a carpenter.

He worked hard, and he became the head of a car company, and then the governor of Michigan.

When Mitt and I met and fell in love, we were determined not to let anything stand in the way of our life together. I was an Episcopalian. He was a Mormon.

We were very young. Both still in college. There were many reasons to delay marriage, and you know? We just didn’t care. We got married and moved into a basement apartment. We walked to class together, shared the housekeeping, and ate a lot of pasta and tuna fish. Our desk was a door propped up on sawhorses. Our dining room table was a fold down ironing board in the kitchen. Those were very special days.

Then our first son came along. All at once I’m 22 years old, with a baby and a husband who’s going to business school and law school at the same time, and I can tell you, probably like every other girl who finds herself in a new life far from family and friends, with a new baby and a new husband, that it dawned on me that I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into.

That was 42 years ago. Now we have five sons and 18 grandchildren and I’m still in love with that boy I met at a high school dance.

I read somewhere that Mitt and I have a “storybook marriage.” Well, in the storybooks I read, there were never long, long, rainy winter afternoons in a house with five boys screaming at once. And those storybooks never seemed to have chapters called MS or Breast Cancer.

A storybook marriage? No, not at all. What Mitt Romney and I have is a real marriage.

I know this good and decent man for what he is — warm and loving and patient.

He has tried to live his life with a set of values centered on family, faith, and love of one’s fellow man. From the time we were first married, I’ve seen him spend countless hours helping others. I’ve seen him drop everything to help a friend in trouble, and been there when late-night calls of panic came from a member of our church whose child had been taken to the hospital.

You may not agree with Mitt’s positions on issues or his politics. Massachusetts is only 13% Republican, so it’s not like that’s a shock.

But let me say this to every American who is thinking about who should be our next President:

No one will work harder.

No one will care more.

No one will move heaven and earth like Mitt Romney to make this country a better place to live!

It’s true that Mitt has been successful at each new challenge he has taken on. It amazes me to see his history of success actually being attacked. Are those really the values that made our country great? As a mom of five boys, do we want to raise our children to be afraid of success?

Do we send our children out in the world with the advice, “Try to do… okay?”

And let’s be honest. If the last four years had been more successful, do we really think there would be this attack on Mitt Romney’s success?

Of course not.

Mitt will be the first to tell you that he is the most fortunate man in the world. He had two loving parents who gave him strong values and taught him the value of work. He had the chance to get the education his father never had.

But as his partner on this amazing journey, I can tell you Mitt Romney was not handed success.

He built it.

He stayed in Massachusetts after graduate school and got a job. I saw the long hours that started with that first job. I was there when he and a small group of friends talked about starting a new company. I was there when they struggled and wondered if the whole idea just wasn’t going to work. Mitt’s reaction was to work harder and press on.

Today that company has become another great American success story.

Has it made those who started the company successful beyond their dreams?

Yes, it has.

It allowed us to give our sons the chance at good educations and made all those long hours of book reports and homework worth every minute. It’s given us the deep satisfaction of being able to help others in ways that we could never have imagined. Mitt doesn’t like to talk about how he has helped others because he sees it as a privilege, not a political talking point. And we’re no different than the millions of Americans who quietly help their neighbors, their churches and their communities. They don’t do it so that others will think more of them.

They do it because there IS no greater joy.

“Give and it shall be given unto you.”

But because this is America, that small company which grew has helped so many others lead better lives. The jobs that grew from the risks they took have become college educations, first homes. That success has helped fund scholarships, pensions, and retirement funds. This is the genius of America: dreams fulfilled help others launch new dreams.

At every turn in his life, this man I met at a high school dance, has helped lift up others. He did it with the Olympics, when many wanted to give up.

He did it in Massachusetts, where he guided a state from economic crisis to unemployment of just 4.7%.

Under Mitt, Massachusetts’s schools were the best in the nation. The best. He started the John and Abigail Adams scholarships, which give the top 25% of high school graduates a four-year tuition-free scholarship.

This is the man America needs.

This is the man who will wake up every day with the determination to solve the problems that others say can’t be solved, to fix what others say is beyond repair. This is the man who will work harder than anyone so that we can work a little less hard.

I can’t tell you what will happen over the next four years. But I can only stand here tonight, as a wife, a mother, a grandmother, an American, and make you this solemn commitment:

This man will not fail.

This man will not let us down.

This man will lift up America!

It has been 47 years since that tall, kind of charming young man brought me home from our first dance. Not every day since has been easy.

But he still makes me laugh. And never once did I have a single reason to doubt that I was the luckiest woman in the world.

I said tonight I wanted to talk to you about love. Look into your hearts.

This is our country.

This is our future.

These are our children and grandchildren.

You can trust Mitt.

He loves America.

He will take us to a better place, just as he took me home safely from that dance.

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Randy Venable

I’m sure that Ann will do a fine job of being First Lady, and not intrude into ridiculous menu choices for schoolchildren and our nation’s warriors. I’ll wager that she won’t start attempting to write Draconian health-care laws, as Hillary did, illegally, some say. Perhaps some of her charm and aplomb will impress her counterparts throughout the world, compared to the hideous, jet-setting performance the present First Lady seems to enjoy. I have to believe that their guests at White House events won’t be overloaded with Hollywood liberals, but rather would be populated with men and women with a genuine feel for the country, the economy, and the morale and needs of the country to get back on track.

Marti

This is satire, right?

G. Munz

Wow ! What a heartfelt and moving speech from our soon to be first lady. I have always felt that Mitt Romney was a decent and good man,and now my feelings are even more reinforced.I wish I could have seen the speech live but I had to work overtime today so I missed it. Thank you Jan for printing it for all of us working men and women to read. I am truly inspired by her words.Most sincerely and respectfully, G. Munz.

Thank you for posting her speech! I didn’t get to see it live, so I’ve had to watch little pieces of it. What a breath of fresh air!

Clay Slape

Jan:

While I am not a Democrat nor am I a Republican, I believe in the tenor and spirit of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. I am an Individual and I am Independent. This election is about electing the “Lesser of 2 Evils” as I see it. Obama, being the Major Evil and Romney being the Lesser Evil (and its not really Romney, its the Republican Party). Republicans and Democrats have the same agenda. Who they serve is the only difference between the two parties.

America has outgrown the Two Party System and WE need to change it to where candidates run not on party theologies, but on issues and problem solving, representing the ENTIRE group of the American People.

I am a US Air Force Veteran. I proudly served my country and would do so again if asked or needed. I would die to protect our providence on FREEDOM. However, when POLITICS comes into play, I have issues with our political system. It is fast heading toward corruption of an untold magnitude. We need to stop or derail that train before we are all going into the abyss of no return. I believe WE, each of us, Americans, can make a difference, but we all have to stand on the foundation of the founding fathers and wreck havoc on those who have set out to destroy what we have so long have spent time building.

I will stand and vote with Romney, however, he will be under a microscope and if he turns this country further into CHAOS and SOCIALISM and does not embark on the method and means of restoring our greatness in the world by removing us from the NAFTA/GATT Treaty that has deformed our great nation and brought us into this intolerable mess we are currently in, then we may have not choice but to fight another civil war in this nation to set it right.

like she said he will do his utmost to turn us around. Mormons believe in the Constitution and love the country. A lot if not most are conservative. Mitt Romney is very concerned about people. As a LDS Bishop and Branch President he worked, counseled and helped many different kinds. without pay – noone who serves in LDS church is paid. He knows people of all sorts – not just rich ones as Dems would make you believe. You are right. After o anyone who becomes President will be watched extremely closely. I hope that people won’t expect him to turn the country around in 1 year.

Thank you for your sercice. But, I think you are wrong to compare the two parties at this point. There is no comparison. Threre is actually as much diffrence as daylight and day. The left has no morals and has eliminated God in everything . The Pres. is catering to the muslims and bringing 17000 per month to the usa.. we will, per his goal, have 50 million in the USA in 4 more years. They have 8.5 childen per family and at that rate will be majority in the USA in 20 yrs about… The muslims are intollerate of other people that do not convert to Islam..I have Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren that I am concerned about their future in America… Everyone needs to go see the film 2016 and see what Obama is all about. He has an agenda to carry out his Fathers grudge on America because of Colonialism of Africa. Obama has picked up the torch for him and is attempting to revenge his Father.. Remember the bust of Churchill that he immediately ejected from the Whitehouse. He is deminishing the nation , and causing class warfare that ” devide and conquer” is his goal. Sending money to South America to drill oil and shipped back to America at high prices. Thus, breaking the backs of families… Go see this film and you decide if you really knew Obama. If you are not scared now I think you will be . I aam terrified of him being re-elected to carry out his agenda. Wake up people ..please.

No she did not!!! you lie… Ann does not have that demeanor. MOOOshelle yes but Ann would never utter those words… TROLL..

angry taxpayer

seriously, john? are you completely blind to all of the extravagant and wildly expensive vacations that the current first lady has taken on the taxpayers dime in the middle of a crappy economy? and can anyone tell me why she needs a staff of 22 people with an annual salary totaling nearly $2 million?

How about CNN? Or are they too conservative for you? Or the Huffington Post? Washington Post? New York Times? They all carried this same story. This story was even carried on NPR; and they are fairly blatant in their political bias.
BTW, there is no MSNBC anymore. They had to reformat all of their programs and change the name of their organization due to the controversy over their extreme reporting bias and erroneous reporting practices.
Now, Mr John “I’m a little behind” Phillips; FOX News Channel, etc., is one of many news reporting agencies owned by News Corp, which in turn is owned by Rupert Murdoch and family. While it is true that he is a bit on the conservative side (for a Brit) and a lot of his views are similar to those of Gov. Romney’s, and yes, it is also true that he personally contributed $33,000-plus to the RNC for use toward the overall 2012 Republican election campaign, there is probably something else you might not be aware of… Rupert Murdoch personally donated almost $300,000 specifically for Pres. Obama’s re-election campaign.
Imagine that, $32K for the RNC to split between all the Republicans running for multiple and various public office positions at every level, and almost 10 times as much directed specifically for use by just one person in the DNC as he campaigns to remain in office. He also donates to other Democrats directly.
So, sir, would you mind hazarding a guess as to just exactly how conservative and ‘Republican’ FOX News Channel really is? Please? Oh, and no; I didn’t call you an ass, so there shouldn’t need to be any reason for you to attack me personally. I supplied you with a whole bunch of information, and where I found it. It’s up to you to verify it for yourself, and become a better, more enlightened and a more productive citizen of our United States of America.

Thank you, and have a great day.

Does anybody know the rules regarding private political donations from foreign nationals?

That’s what happens when someone gets voted in because of their skin color. Let’s vote for someone that actually has commander-in-chief abilities this time, ok America? I remember the news interviews in 2007 with blacks saying “I’m 51 and I never voted but I’m voting this time” . Did you get the “change” you were promised? More like some change in your pocket actually.

I love that she spoke with confidence, hope, love of family and country. She spoke humbly about her blessings and how her husband has blest others lives. Ms. O just tells us what we need to do to make America better…. I’ve experienced the last four years…ready for a change!!!

Zorrow

I wish Jan would not discriminate against us non Facebook users, and provide a means for friendly email contact, after all I have to provide mine to post?

Being in the IT security business for 25 years provides a special insight as to how dangerous to the user Facebook, and many other social sites are to Adults and kids alike.

Womenexplode

I agree. Ann Romney was a breath of freah air, class, respect, values, and American Standards. Her speech was given from her heart and the quality of her heart was clear.. nothing was contrived .. she will be a fabulous first lady…

Cajunlady

Style, class, intelligence, and wisdom. Wisdom to speak with experience and knowledge and understanding. This is a HUGE difference from what Moochelle offers as the First Lady. I have seen Moochelle smile and act like she is of the people. I have also seen that pouty, pissed off look more than the smiles. Ann always is dignified. And no I really don’t think it is because of the cameras in her face. I believe she is herself at all times. She can offer hope to us. She can offer love and respect for our country and people. She can give us pride in ourselves and our country. She is the light that should shine in the White House….

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About Jan

Jan is an Associated Press Award Winning Veteran television journalist, now turned citizen activist for the Conservative Movement. Her Conservative voice has generated a following of over 200,000 friends and subscribers on her three Facebook pages. Read more ...